A steady flow of friends knelt to sign a makeshift memorial at an Elizabeth apartment building today for Antonio Davis, a father of two who was fatally shot in the face Monday night.

Davis, 28, had been expecting another child, they said. He was well-known at the Oakwood Plaza apartment complex on Irvington Avenue, although his residence is listed in Rahway, where his mother and other relatives live. He was apparently shot once at about 8:10 p.m. in the first-floor hallway of a five-story, brick building in the complex, police said.

Davis died after being transported by ambulance to University Hospital in Newark, said Sgt. John Maloney. Police said they believe only one shot was fired, and no one else was injured.

Today, friends wrote messages on cardboard attached to a black iron fence outside the building for Davis, who they said would buy ice cream for their children and was known as "Uncle Pete." They left candles, bouquets of red roses and several balloons twisting in the wind.

Davis, a tall, snappy dresser, was known to wear white collared shirts and always looked "professional," said building resident Shakira Robertson, 29.

"That was just his style," Robertson said.

Davis' aunt and cousins live in the building where he was killed, and his girlfriend and two sons -- ages 2 and 8 -- live down the street, neighbors said.

Police responded to the building, a site of previous violent incidents, after receiving several calls from residents who heard what sounded like a gunshot in the hallway, Maloney said. Officers arrived to find Davis lying there.

The incident is being investigated by the Union County Prosecutor's Office.